Familiar
by FluffyFly
Summary: AU. Arthur is a wizard searching for a familiar to make him stronger. Alfred just wants to be a heroic knight saving damsels in distress. Rated T to be safe ;D


**Authors note: Hi! This is my very first fanfic and I'm super exited! \(OAO)/ ...Please have mercy on me because English is not my first language! Also, a familiar is an animal that wizards and witches have to be able to magic...like witches with black cats. I do not own any of the Hetalia characters and all that and let's just go!**

**Warnings:boyxboy, AU, human names and so on ^^**

A timid ray of sunlight searched its way through the stained glass widows of Pendraig Castle. Unhurriedly it wandered over dusty bookshelves and parchments, intensifying as the sun illuminated the dew wet woodlands outside. Finally it came to rest on the eyelids of a young gentleman sleeping in a wide four-poster bed, making his abnormally big eyebrows twitch. Arthur's eyes flew open with a start. He squinted against the light adjusting his eyes; sunshine in the morning was a rare sight in these parts of the kingdom. A blackbird was singing perched on a branch outside his window. He groaned; his head was hurting like hell and the shrill sound cut through his head like a knife. He slipped out of bed while mumbling a short spell under his breath. A pair of unicorn slippers came flying through the untidy stone chamber and landed in front of the pained wizard. They were upside-down. He flipped them over with his feet cursing; he could never get it right, could he?

Arthur took a step forward and felt gravitation suddenly trying to pull him down from all directions. He managed to find his balance and took another step, his head throbbed painfully. What had he been doing last night? He remembered being mad about something, very mad. He remembered drinking too, and ranting loudly. But about what? The tired wizard looked down at his unicorn clad feet, now dragging themselves out the door and down the stairs. The small purple ears wobbled with each step. He wished he had his own unicorn.

Unicorn.

There it was. His bloody Scottish brother had found a unicorn familiar for himself. Oh, how he hated his brothers sometimes. Each dark wizard needed an animal familiar to channelize his powers and become able to do any greater magic. He was the oldest brother. He was supposed to find his familiar first, but now two of his brother had theirs. His other Welsh brother already had a fierce red dragon, torching everything in its path. Now another one had surpassed him, and with a unicorn for gods sake. He had always loved unicorns, they were such noble creatures.

The blond left the stairs behind him and entered the great hall. It was big, cold and like the rest of the castle the walls and floors were made of grey stone masonry. In the middle of the room loomed a huge massive wood oak table accompanied by an excessive amount chairs. The cushions on them matched the giant tapestries on the wall. They portrayed his family crest with the lion, the unicorn and the dragon; all were looking down upon him like he had disappointed them greatly. He noted that everything in the room was covered in dust and sighed. He would tell his housekeeper to dust properly but he was not sure he wanted to risk his life over some dust. His head throbbed painfully again making his vision a little blurry. This would not do.

Arthur closed his eyes and furrowed his eyebrows in concentration. He whispered a few words of old English and instantly he felt his head clearing. Now that one, even though he wouldn't admit it to a living soul, he had practiced. How to get rid of a nasty hangover instantly. Bloody brilliant. That night he could continue his search for a familiar compatible with him. When he found one he would move out of this godforsaken castle and take out his revenge on his brothers. The blond wizard strolled more lightly over to the far end of the room aiming for the green kitchen door. He never ate in the great hall, it was simply too big.

But when he entered his face fell; he had forgotten he would have to deal with his frog excuse for a chef.

"_Mon dieu_, the _ivrogne_ sure is up early. Could you not sleep without me?" the French cook smirked and took a sip of his wine. He leaned back in his chair balancing his wineglass dangerously in one hand. An opened bottle of Arthur's more expensive red wines stood on the chipped wooden table.

"Oh, shut up you bloody hypocrite pervert! Stop lazing around and make yourself useful. C

Cook me a fry-up, will you?" Six months ago Francis's remark would have left a heavy blush on the Britons face but he had grown accustomed his daily impudence and regular perverseness… "And button up that shirt it looks blooming indecent!"…but not yet quite accustomed. He had hired the cook when he moved into the castle because of the sorry fact that his own food always came right back again up once he'd eaten it. Cooking was just not his cup of tea.

"The buttons are like a prison containing my free spirit, _ma chérie_. Be grateful I'm wearing anything!" Francis walked over to the stove taking his wine with him and started heating up a pan.

"Your "free spirit" is something most people want to be spared from, frog" Arthur muttered "And I will need some toast with that."

A small yellow bird came flying in through the open window and landed beside Francis, chirping happily.

"_Re-bienvenue _Pierre! Did you bring me a letter from Chelsea?" the chef took a small rolled up piece of paper from the bird's outstretched leg. After reading it hastily he smiled and tucked the letter into his pocket. "_Bien joué, _you can go and rest now." Francis petted the little bird on the head before it flew off.

"I don't want any bird germs in my food Frog" Arthur said and eyed the bird as it flew away.

"I can assure you that Pierre is cleaner than you'll ever be" the chef snorted and started to place the big pieces of bacon in the fizzling pan. The wizard just rolled his eyes; it was way too early to have an argument with the French sod.

In spite of the fact that Francis was a giant arsehole his cooking was impeccable and after eating his breakfast consisting of bacon, eggs, baked beans, toast (not French) and sausage he felt completely content. He needed to prepare spells if he was going to look for a familiar tonight so he spent the rest of day in the basement where he kept his spell book. He would not need the spell book once he got his familiar though. He wouldn't have to live in this castle either.

Halfway through a spell the very reason his family had ever given him such a big castle scared him half to death by laughing like a maniac in his ear. The uncanny ghost had haunted the building for as long as anyone could remember and sometimes it really freaked him out. He could really use that familiar any time soon.

When darkness started to fall he prepared to set out into the woods. He had made a magic glowing orb that now hovered over his hand providing some light and a black cape enchanted to keep rain away from his body. As soon as he stepped outside the door and felt the cool night air against his face he relaxed. This was his home much more than that murky castle. The rain slid of his barrier perfectly as the trees closed behind him and the night engulfed his dark figure, only the glowing orb visible like a small lonely star.

Alfred was not happy. He was usually a quite cheerful person but today was not his day. He had left his family and travelled over the great ocean on a merchant ship earlier that year setting sail for this island nation. The young man had been hoping to find real adventure. He was a courageous knight and this island of Britannia was famous for its many dragons and other mythical creatures. He was going to come here, battle a few vicious monsters, save a few damsels and be a real hero, just like the ones in all the books.

He urged on Freedom Justice, his trusty stallion, to pick up the pace; the cold fine rain was getting into his clothes. What was up with the weather here anyway? This morning the sun had been shining and not one cloud had been visible. Now the sky was dark and heavy with rain ready to soak him right to the bone. He didn't really know where he was heading; this forest seemed like it never ended. Or maybe he was riding in circles? No, he was way too awesome for something like that.

The high beech trees all looked the same to him and twilight was falling making it harder and harder to see. Maybe he should think of finding a place to sleep. He hoped tomorrow would bring an exiting adventure for him, one worthy of a real hero! Saving a damsel in distress by slaying a real fierce evil dragon had always been his dream. But the only "beast" he had encountered so far was a pervert trying to seduce a young girl in dark pigtails in the last village he had past. The pervert had spoken with a heavy French accent and as soon as the girl had left he had started hitting on him instead. He had left rather urgently and now he had no idea where the next village was.

One more unforeseen problem was his armour. The self proclaimed knight had bought it before he left his previous home overseas because he thought it looked cool. But apparently it was not made for the humid climate here. The joints were rusting and it was getting harder to move. But it really was an awesome armour so it was staying. He looked down on the white horse beneath him. He horse didn't seem too amused by this whole experience either.

"Come on FJ only a bit further! We are heroes, right? No hero gives up when it gets rough!" his encouraging only earned an irritated flick with the tail from the horse. Except from the sound of the falling rain and the soft clipper clapper of hoofs against dry leafs the woods were awfully quiet. He suddenly felt a need to fill the eerie silence.

"You don't think there's any ghosts here FJ? He glanced around nervously. Monsters he could deal with, you could just heroically cut them down with your sword. But what do you do about a ghost? Ghosts in stories attacked when it was creepy quiet like this and the hero was all alone. He would just have to be really loud.

"Sure is cold here, right FJ? Are you getting cold? I'm a little cold but it's fine though. That tree looks kinda creepy don't you think? I wonder if there're any fairies in it. No, I don't really believe in that fairy crap. I mean dragons I can believe but fairies are just stupid! Ghosts are stupid too…" Damn it! Now he had positively offended the ghosts. The silence was getting even more pressing after all that talking. The rider glanced nervously over his shoulder. Having a conversation with your horse wasn't really rewarding. Drastic measures had to be taken.

"Oh, Say can you see~! By the dawns early light, The hero of awesomeness, riding on his white horse~!" his loud voice rang out in the darkening drowning all other sounds.

"His sword glistens in the LIGHT, and his armour sparkles like a STAR~! He is the most awesome HERO of them all~! Lalala lala lala lalala! I can't hear anything out of the ordinary~!"

He kept singing and humming for about an hour until his horse started tripping and slipping on roots and bumps on the wet ground. It was pitch-black around him by now and the rain was still pouring down. He could see no kind of shelter but it was obvious that he would have to give up and stop now.

"Looks like we'll have to sleep under the stars tonight FJ, though I don't see any of them right now." He took the reins and halted in a small clearing covered in soft but soaked grass. The wet blond swung a heavy armour clad leg over the horse and landed a tad unsteady on the ground. He didn't feel he had to sing anymore; if there were any ghosts out there they would have taken him by now. The blond unsaddled Freedom Justice and told him to lie down on the ground. As he settled down next to the warm horse with the saddlebag as a pillow he remembered the nights at home on the other side of the great ocean. He had often snuck out and slept in the stables with FJ ever since he had gotten him as a little foal. Alfred sighed; he was beginning to feel a little nostalgic. He closed his eyes and tried to relax. The armour was digging into his skin in several places but he didn't think he would be able to get it of right now and besides, a hero should always be ready for battle. In spite of the cold rain and the uncomfortable position he almost immediately fell into a dreamless sleep.

Arthur strode trough the dark rainy forest in high spirits. The trees around him were temperately lit up by his glowing orb as he passed them and sometimes small creatures darted away like swift shadows. Another light came hovering through the gloom, slightly purple in contrast to his frosty blue, closing the distance rapidly.

"Hello Amethyst, how are you?" the Briton exclaimed unable to hide a big smile. The fairy wore a small purple dress matching her lavender hair and deep blue eyes. Her dragonfly like wings fluttered lightly keeping her slender limbs airborne.

"Artie! I've missed you! Long time no see!" she giggled and flew in happy uneven circles around his head.

"Nonsense, I saw you just yesterday you scatterbrain! Anything new in the forest?" He threw back his hood uncovering his mop of short unruly hair trying to follow her with his gaze. The glowing creature stopped in front of his face and pulled her legs up against her chest, sitting curled up perched in midair.

"Are you looking for unicorns again? You've already met all in this forest, silly!" she let out another bubbly laugh as he rolled his eyes at her.

"I've told you it can't be any unicorn. It has to be _the _unicorn, or any other animal really, as long as it is the right one. I'll know when I see it, that's all I know, dear." He had explained this to her a number of times but it didn't seem to stick. Maybe she remembered but enjoyed teasing him, you never knew with fairies, but still he really enjoyed their company.

"I actually saw some weird dimwit trespassing somewhere over there." Amethyst pointed a sleek finger to her left "He was being really noisy so I avoided him but you might want to take a look." Arthur had no idea who would be trespassing through his forest, his castle was famous for being haunted and these woods full of potentially dangerous beasts so people tended to avoid them.

"Lead the way if you please." the wizard said simply and she dashed off through the rain giving him trouble to keep up. The fairy darted here and there trying to locate the "weird dimwit" and suddenly she stopped and flew back to him.

"Over there in that clearing, they seem to be sleeping." she flitted nervously with her semitransparent wings.

Sleeping in the rain, and who where "they" he had time to think before he took another step and saw the white horse resting in the glade. For a split second his heart leapt, could it be a unicorn? But there was no sign of any brilliant horn spiralling from its forehead. Still it was a magnificent horse. It was pure white with a matching mane shining like silk. As he closed the distance between him and the clearing he completely forgot everything about looking out for some dimwit trespasser. Then his foot bumped against something incredibly hard on the ground. His arms flailed helplessly at his sides as he crashed down flat on his face. He sat up groaning; whatever he had landed on it was made of metal and bloody hell it hurt. He would have bruises tomorrow.

"Wow! What's that light? Are you a wizard?" an exited voice came out from beneath him. Arthur looked down and found himself staring into two sapphire eyes, gazing back at him curiously. The owner of the eyes had a weird accent that the Briton never had heard before; he wondered where he was from. He was wearing a nice looking but thin and probably useless armour and he was wet like a drenched rat. "This is kinda cosy and all but would you mind getting off of me?" the stranger smiled and squirmed a little in his cramped position under the Britt. Arthur snapped out of his daze and scrambled off in a rush blushing fiercely.

"You look like a tomato!" the stranger sniggered as he got up from the ground. Arthur tried to hide his flushed face by fixing his cloak which had gotten all tangled up, he wished he could sink through the ground, or even better the boisterous stranger could fall down some deep hole. His head snapped up when he heard an ear-splitting scream ripping the cold night air.

**French mini dictionary:**

**_Mon Dieu_: My god**

**_Ivrogne_: drunkard**

**_Ma chérie: _"my love"**

**_Bien joué: Good job!_**

**And there it is, my first chapter! I will try to update soon but my time might get eaten away by school work and my own laziness :D. If you didn't figure out that yourself "Chelsea" is the name I came up with for Seychelles. THANK YOU! to my own awesome bad ass trio who have been pestering me to get this finished, I love you! And thank you dear reader for reading till the end!**

Even the shortest review will make my day! ;D


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